The Orlov chronicles
by Chaplain118
Summary: A chronicle of the lives of alpha squad onboard the Titan Orlov. As they participate in Operation Motherland, their actions will either elevate them to heroes or degrade them to morons
1. So it begins

It was a normal day onboard the Orlov, or as normal as it could get. The massive Titan wasn't going anywhere soon, and from the quick victories in Europe, the Pan-Asian Coalition was going to breeze through this war. Naturally, the soldiers aboard the Titan found modes of entertainment that were, for the lack of better words, stupid. Two privates from alpha squad were locked in an exciting knife duel while their squad members were busy collecting bets. Nearby, beta squad was taking bets on how long someone can put their hand on the Titan reactor core. Naturally, an idiot always stepped up and volunteered, which always ended up with that same idiot earning a free trip to the infirmary. Needless to say, the medics aboard the Titan were not pleased, but they were amused by some of the injuries they saw. Pvt. Vlad Segoivetski had a fork shoved so far up his rectum that they had to send him back to the military base in Moscow for surgery. When asked how it happened, Vlad simply replied that he took a bet and the questions stopped there. Perhaps the dumbest of all was gamma squad, where the soldiers had one shot of vodka too much and are now playing Russian roulette with their Takao T-20 automatic pistols. One would only gape in wonder at the stupidity yet could not help but laugh at it.

While gamma squad was ready to blow their brains out, the focus of attention was on the knife duel between Kush Arya and Zhang Yi. Apparently, the dispute started as a friendly competition on who could shoot down the most birds with their Park 52 rifles, something highly illegal due to the lack of resources for bullets. But when they realized that most of the birds have fled to the equatorial regions, the two decided to shoot the next best thing: ammo boxes. Obviously, the owners of the ammo boxes were not amused by the antics, and after destroying at least six boxes, all of which exploded in a beautiful shower of shrapnel and EMP, the two settled on shooting at medical hubs, which wouldn't be so explosive. Before they got a chance to get to the hubs, the medics chased them out, threatening to shoot them. So with nothing to prove who were the better sniper and the Titan not leaving Russian soil any time soon, the two fell into a verbal altercation.

That fell apart quickly and soon, Zhang pulled out his BJ-2 Combat Knife.

"This could get ugly," Ivan Morzhovy remarked.

"Nah," Chen Heliang replied, "I want to see where this goes. Hey Zhang! I got twenty rubles riding on you!"

"What if the commander comes in?" Ivan asked.

"He'll probably join the betting rounds," Heliang laughed as more people started placing bets.

The two brave combatants took their places and off they go! Kush came at Zhang with a nasty stab, only to have it parried away effortlessly. Laughing, Zhang swung low and struck at Kush's stomach. Evidently, the two had been superb knifers in training since neither was really getting to the other person.

"What the hell is this?" Heliang asked incredulously, "I want to see some blood here!"

Suddenly, Kush screamed and fell down, holding his left eye. Zhang stood over him, a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Hell yes!" Heliang jumped up and yelled at all the gamblers. "Where's my rubles suka!"

"We should probably call a medic," Ivan suggested.

"Huh," Heliang turned as he grabbed money from each of the gamblers.

" Kush's bleeding pretty badly," Ivan said, "Get him a medic."

"Nah, he'll make it," Heliang smiled.

Suddenly, the Takao pistol went off and Yuki Satsumi fell out of his chair.

"Yeah, I'm calling a medic," Ivan got up and left the recreation hall.

"Hey, Ivan," Heliang called after him, "Ask the guys in engineering if they have any rocket juice."

"I'm not going to help you die faster!" Ivan shouted back. The rocket fuel that the anti-Titan missiles use contained a large enough alcohol volume that once you took the dangerous stuff like the hydrazine and the peroxide out of it, you end up with distilled liquor. The drink became wildly popular in the armed forces, but it was still fairly dangerous. It was about eighty percent alcohol by content and most people that drank it either woke up with a killer hangover, or just never woke up at all. Even if someone could survive drinking it, the alcohol practically dissolved their livers. Thus, vodka became the more viable drink of choice. But even so, crew members tend to go after the heavy stuff at times, which usually led to another visit to the infirmary.

"What is it this time?" The medic asked, not even looking up from his medical charts.

"Knife wound, and a headshot," Ivan replied.

"Bring the knifed guy in here; put the dead guy in a casket." The medic replied dryly.

Just then, another shot went off, apparently gamma squad was still playing Russian roulette.

"Um, make that two headshots," Ivan hesitated.

"What the hell is going on in there?" The medic looked up.

"Normal day," Ivan replied.

"Ah, I'm coming with you." The medic got up and grabbed his Krylov rifle. "Hey, Tanya, cover for me."

The blond woman sitting nearby nodded and went back to her charts. Ivan could not help his eyes lingering on her. It had been so damned long since he saw any women. Most of the soldiers on the Orlov were men and the few women onboard didn't take crap from anybody. In fact, some of the most serious injuries the infirmary saw were due to the damage a pissed off female soldier inflicted when she heard a cat call. In fact, Wu Huoyiang got a knife wound so bad in his chest that he had to get a flashed cloned lung. Malmoud Ali got his neck snapped on the spot and Nikoli Yaroslayovitch lost his left testicle.

However, contrary to what Ivan thought would happen, Tanya looked up and smiled at him, sending a tingling sensation down his spine.

"So, how did it start?" The medic asked as he loaded a clip into his Krylov.

"Why did you bring your rifle?" Ivan asked.

"It grabs their attention." The medic responded as he clicked off the safety.

"Why is the safety off?" Ivan asked again, seriously questioning the medic's intentions.

"If necessary, shoot gamma squad, I am sick and tired of those idiots." The medic responded with a disgusted face. "I swear, almost every day, those idiots would pull something stupid. Do you remember what they did last week?"

"Vividly," Ivan replied. The week before, gamma squad decided to rig EMP grenades across the hallway of the Titan. The problem didn't cause individual damage since nobody wears their helmets unless in combat, but it did hell to the reactor consoles and lighting systems. Half of the reactor consoles shut down and the lights flickered off in the third level. It took nearly three hours for engineering to crawl through the auxiliary tunnels and fix everything. Strangely enough, nobody got in real trouble, but gamma squad was left with cleaning the waste disposal system for the rest of the week.

When the two got back into the recreation area, the place was a mess. Kush was rolling on the floor while his left eye bled; the two Russian roulette players were dead while their squad members were looking at the Takao, wondering what the hell was going on.

The medic raised his rifle and fired two shots into the ceiling, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Alright," he yelled, "What the hell just happened here, and I don't want to hear the usual shit about how you had too much to drink."

Silence.

"Okay," he sighed, "Try again. Who needs medical attention?"

Kush raised his hand, his eye still bleeding.

"Infirmary, now," the medic said in disgust, and pointing the Krylov to the rest of gamma squad, "You three grab the bodies and put them in caskets."

As the soldiers went about following these orders, the overhead radio sounded.

"We have specific orders from high command; the European counter assault of the mainland has begun. They have begun an assault at the port in Northern Bavaria where our sixth and tenth infantry divisions have been holding them for the past three hours. Also, reports indicate that an enemy panzer division is headed across the Rhine at the bridge at Remagen. The eleventh army is informing us that they have sighted European artillery and tanks near Leipzig and is preparing for a possible siege. Our intelligence informs us that the Europeans are expending roughly seventy to eighty percent of their troops to take back their homeland, leaving northern Africa lightly defended. The following Titans will be assigned to assist the defense of Europe: Krakov, Dekemetos, Tian Long, Shang Yiang, Siddartha, Kashmir, Vloromov, Sharrupek, and the Voss. The following Titans will be assigned with the tasks of carrying out Operation Motherland: Juche, Horohito, Tso, Saladin, Mumbhabi, Khanisha, Khanatis, Stromov, Orlov, Ming, Dvushcheck, and the Mir. All remaining Titans are to hold their positions and await further orders."

"I really need to start drinking again," the medic muttered as he dragged Kush with him to the infirmary. Ivan could not help agreeing.


	2. Battlefield deployment

The Orlov rumbled across the sky as it carried its combatants toward the battlefield to fulfill Operation Motherland. Gamma squad has officially been banned from the recreational area after exhibiting their stupidity with the Takao Russian Roulette incident. The men of alpha squad found themselves one extra person when the medic Tanya Ivanovic was assigned to their team. In an attempt to win the attention of the only female on the squad, Kush and Zhang Yi fell back to another bout of knife fighting. After being taunted by Heliang so much, Kush tossed a grenade at him. This little incident forced the commander to restrict alpha squad to their quarters. Thus, beta squad became the only ones allowed to roam freely aboard the Titan, which immediately led to a constant stream of infirmary visits. Strangely enough, the remaining twenty one squads faced no such problems, or maybe they were just so good at hiding their stupidity that the commander never caught them doing it.

"So, how long until we get there?" Heliang asked as he cleaned his Shuko absent-mindedly.

"We're over Sicily right now," Ivan replied as he slapped a new clip into his Voss.

"Sicily?" Heliang gaped as he looked at the telescreen, "No way."

"The bearings don't lie," Ivan pointed it out.

"I know they don't, but this is Sicily?" Heliang asked.

The once lush and warm island has changed dramatically since the advancement of the ice. Instead of trees, ice covered the landscape, the beach is completely frozen over, and the only signs of life are the smoldering buildings.

"But, three months ago, you could still swim there!" Heliang exclaimed, "Now where am I supposed to pick up some loving along the way?"

"Wow," Zhang Yi sat down with his Park, "way to occupy your time, thinking about picking up Mediterranean beauties during a war."

"Oh come on," Heliang retorted, "Give me a good reason why the girls down there won't like me, one good reason."

"I can give you five," Zhang Yi replied with a wry smile, "One, you're in the PAC, two, you're an idiot, three, you ran back screaming when Kush threw a dud grenade at you, four, you punch people in your sleep, and five, you're married."

"Hey, my wife is as good as dead; I haven't seen her in three years!" Heliang protested. Turning to Ivan, "Do I punch people in my sleep?"

"Yeah, you do," Tanya walked in and sat down next to them.

"Hey Tanya," Zhang Yi smiled and put his arm around her shoulder, only to receive a jab from her elbow.

"Don't touch me," she scowled.

"Wait, I really do punch people in my sleep?" Heliang asked incredulously.

"Yeah, and while you're doing it, you were yelling 'I love gay porn'," Tanya responded in a matter-of-fact way, "It was very funny, until you started tearing off your clothes."

"Seriously?" Heliang asked.

"No you idiot," Tanya laughed, "You just punch us and go back to sleep."

Heliang looked as if he had been kicked in the face by a Bogatyr walker.

"Wait a minute," Ivan looked around, "Where's Kush?"

"I think the last time I saw him, he said something about rocket juice," Zhang Yi replied.

"I don't get it, is he trying to out-drink the commander or something?" Tanya asked. "I swear, if he keeps drinking, he's going to need a new liver soon."

"Guys, I'm fine," Kush came in, holding two bottles of rocket juice in his hand.

"Toss one over," Heliang said.

"Yeah, you want a grenade to go along with that?" Kush laughed as he lobbed the bottle at Heliang.

"Very funny," Heliang retorted, "just wait until we're on the ground and you're begging me for cover fire."

Just then, the Titan came to a halt and the commander's voice boomed through the COM channel.

"Touchdown, we are on the southern edge of the Saharan jungle. The ground has been cleared of most obstacles by orbital strikes. The European Union and their African allies are staging a counter offensive in grid four, six, and eight. Fire teams Neptune, Mars, and Jupiter are to concentrate their assault on those areas. Second and third tank corps, prepare for heavy casualties as you will be responsible for breaking through the enemy's lines. Squads alpha through epsilon are to take control of silos one, five, and seven. Squads zeta through kappa are to take control of silos two, four, and six. Squads lambda through pi are to take silos three, nine, and eight. Squads rho through phi are to take control of silos ten, eleven, and twelve. Squads chi through omega are to remain onboard the Titan and repel any attackers. Doragon squadron one through six, achieve air superiority. Mechanized infantry, secure the ground area. Once their shields are down, squad kappa through phi are to mount an offensive on the enemy Titan. Good luck soldiers."

"Alright, you heard the commander, haul ass!" Ivan ordered his squad. Despite never really having much authority over his teammates out of combat, Ivan was a dominating squad leader on the battlefield. A veteran of Operation Migration and Deception, he knew what needed to be done to survive on the ground.

The launch bay of the Titan was bustling with activity by the time alpha squad got up there. The twenty gunships were ready for action as their operators jumped in the seats. The transports were being loaded and taking off. Meanwhile, snow drifted in the sky, fizzing to nothingness when they touched the Titan's shields.

The PAC had upgraded their vehicles for the counter offensive against the EU's Operation Northern Strike as well as for the long awaited Operation Motherland. The Ocelot had been rendered completely obsolete by the new Hachimoto. Although the new speeder had less protection,; it packed more than enough offensive punch to counter the new EU APC, the Goliath. The Yastrebs were now outfitted with powerful undercarriage mounted missile pods to fend off the EU Talons while the Doragon had been given both a more powerful engine that gave it greater speed and an EMP cannon in an attempt to eliminate EU air superiority. The Nekomata received stronger armor to better combat the Tigers. But the Bogatyr was where the drastic changes truly took place. In the few short months of the Cold War's opening, PAC researchers have managed to drastically alter the control interface of the Bogatyr. Most PAC soldiers still remember being chased down by their own battle walkers when the EU managed to get their hands on one of the walkers. Now these behemoths were connected to its operator through a neural interface planted within the soldier. This lessened the training time and also gave more room to place the new power core, boosting the speed as well as the active defense countermeasure time. Instead of two relatively large cooling vents in the back, the walker now had four small cooling vents near the heavily armored missile pods. More cooling meant more auto-cannons were added, making a total of six.

"Alpha squad, over here," someone yelled.

"Holy hell, it flies?" Heliang asked incredulously as he started at the Yastreb. The transport was not only loaded with soldiers but also carried a Romanov APC. Strangely enough, the PAC did nothing to change the Romanov, despite it being shredded each time it came across a Goliath.

"No," the pilot, who was standing near his ship, responded. "It doesn't, it just sort of falls down gracefully and slowly enough to drop you morons off and then blows up when the enemy gets too close."

"Okay, fine," Heliang muttered, "More people to insult my intelligence."

"I don't know," Kush chuckled, "There's not much to insult in the first place."

"Oh shut up, both of you," Tanya groaned as she climbed aboard the Yastreb.

The Yastreb took off, slower than usual due to the excessive weight, but still managed to fly. The transport rattled and shook as it maneuvered over the pitted battlefield. The Saharan jungle had completely frozen over, and the frosty ground softened as the transport slowly touched down fifty meters from the silo.

"Out, out, out," the pilot yelled, "I don't want to die for you idiots."

"You know, some manners really wouldn't hurt," Zhang Yi muttered into his mike.

The pilot turned around and pointed a pistol at him.

"Okay, sorry, jeez," he put his hands up in mock surrender as he jumped out of the Yastreb with his teammates.

"Alright, secure the silo," Ivan ordered as he clicked the safety off his Voss. Just then, murderous machine gun fire ripped through the air.

"Damn it, they got a sentry gun set down," Heliang yelled as he took to the ground.

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for?" Kush yelled, "Take it out!"

"You got any EMPs?" Heliang yelled back.

"No, weren't you supposed to have them?" Kush bellowed.

"No, I thought you were supposed to have them." Heliang yelled.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ivan yelled as he fired at the group of EU soldiers that emerged from their hiding place near the silo.

The sentry gun kept firing, intent on killing its targets.

"Oh for crying out loud," Heliang yelled into his mike, "Does anybody have any EMPs?"

"They can't hear you, because they're too busy shooting for you!" Kush yelled, "What kind of infantry support are you if you didn't pack EMPs?"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up," Heliang screamed as he took out a frag and lobbed it toward the sentry gun.

Miraculously, the explosion disabled the machine.

"Wow, I guess those hours spent chucking half eaten lunch into the air vents really do pay off." Heliang muttered.

"What?" Everyone on the squad turned.

"Nothing, LOOK OUT!" He tackled Ivan just as a Pilum AVR shot sailed through the air where Ivan's head was a second ago.

"I got him," Zhang Yi said as he picked off the foolish engineer who just gave away his position.

"Damn it, where's everyone else?" Tanya asked as she gunned down two overzealous EU grunts.

"I'm guessing the pilot dropped them off at the other two silos." Ivan replied. "Looks like we're on our own for this silo."

"Perfect, absolutely perfect," Zhang Yi grumbled, "The only thing our squad doesn't have is a silo programmer, how in the devil's name are we going to reconfigure that silo?"

Nobody had an answer.


	3. Problems

"Okay, this can't be too hard," Heliang walked up to the control panel confidently. "If those techies from beta can reprogram these buggers, we can do it."

"Most of those techies also have a degree in computer science," Kush spat, "all you got is a degree in stupidity from the university of Smart-Ass."

"You ever have any good insults?" Heliang ignored Kush and opened the panel.

"You ever have anything worth my insults?" Kush retorted.

"Will you two just shut up and get on with the silo," Ivan hissed, scanning the distant trees as snow fell about them. Something didn't feel right, usually the EU counter attack came right after the PAC took control of a silo, but on this particular silo, there was nothing. Then again, based on his squad's performance, the PAC didn't exactly control this silo.

"Uh, we might have a problem" Heliang turned around.

"Did you finally realize you can't decipher what's on the screen?" Kush leaned on his rifle and smirked.

"No, this silo is run on a triple-buffer state encryption device that won't respond to the normal ohm-three flux charges that we're equipped with." Heliang replied matter-of-factly.

"Wait, say that again, but in Russian," Ivan turned around, surprised by Heliang's grasp of silo technology.

"We can't crack this silo" Heliang stated.

"You couldn't have said that in the first place?" Zhang Yi asked.

"It would've been less dramatic," Heliang smiled.

"Move over, maybe if we just shoot it, we can disable it," Tanya pushed the two out of the way and aimed her Krylov at the panel.

"Wait, you don't want to" Heliang didn't get to finish as she emptied her clip into the panel.

A missile immediately flew out of the silo and headed straight for the Orlov. But unlike normal silos, which had a twenty second delay between firing, this silo started pumping missile after missile into the sky.

"Oh shit," Tanya grumbled as she saw twelve missiles fly into the air. "Those anti-missile guys better be good."

"They're not, I spent a few days with them and I was half convinced that either they were the result of a horrible breeding program or they came from mothers who drank well throughout their pregnancies." Zhang Yi said as he watched the missiles arc gracefully into the sky.

"On the bright side," Heliang broke the tense atmosphere, "most of these missiles aren't armed. Since the only reason for the pause in firing is to arm the missiles. So the commander won't be too pissed with us, but I don't think even gamma has ever screwed up an operation like this."

That was enough to put the fear into the entire squad. They realized that the failure of this mission meant a possible failure to Operation Motherland. They also realized that if Operation Motherland failed, their people would starve.

And to make matters worse, the ground started to tremble at a regular interval.

"Is that what I think it is?" Zhang Yi asked.

"Yep," Ivan replied as he gripped his rifle and turned to his squad. "Battlewalkers."


	4. Casualties

"I don't see a battlewalker, do you?" Zhang Yi scanned the barren wasteland.

"You can't see out of those eyes anyway," Kush whispered as he shouldered his Park-52.

"Shut up," Ivan hissed.

The pounding became louder and louder, but the walker was still nowhere to be seen.

"Shit, you sure this is the sound of a battlewalker?" Heliang asked tensely, desperately rummaging through his pack for an EMP grenade.

"Trust me, it is," Ivan replied as he switched his rifle from normal to the PK-74 rocket mode.

"Are you sure?" Heliang asked again, "I mean, maybe it's just the sound of an orbital strike."

"Shut up and grab that Pilum on the ground," Ivan turned, his eyes still scanning the surroundings. The scene troubled him. There were no trees for the battlewalker to hide in, and there were no hills either. In fact, if there was a battlewalker, they would've seen it by now. But at the same time, the tell-tale trails from an orbital strike bombardment weren't there either.

"Are you sure you're not out of your mind?" Heliang asked again as he tossed down his Shuko and picked up the Pilum.

"Yes, now take up defensive position around the silo," Ivan hissed.

The pounding became louder and louder.

"I don't see anything," Tanya said, gripping her Krylov.

The pounding became louder.

"That's because it's not there," Zhang Yi whispered.

The pounding became louder.

"It's there, trust me," Ivan replied, "I know what those things sound like."

The pounding became louder

"Ivan," Heliang shouldered the Pilum, "I know you fought at Belgrade and Minsk, but that doesn't mean you can't be wrong about these things. I mean, look around, there's nothing here!"

The pounding became louder.

"Dammit, I know the sound of a battlewalker!" Ivan yelled, "I know it's there!"

Suddenly, the pounding stopped.

"Uh oh," Zhang Yi muttered. "If there's a battlewalker, it either stopped, or it's right behind us."

"How could it be behind us?" Kush whispered, "We're standing in a circle."

"Then where the hell is it?" Zhang Yi whispered back.

Suddenly, the twin chain guns on the battlewalker opened up and murderous fire poured out at Alpha squad.

"Take cover!" Ivan yelled.

"Where is it, where is it?" Heliang yelled back as he dove behind the silo, which was still firing off missiles.

"Goddamit, we need that EMP grenade!" Kush yelled as he ran all about, firing randomly with his rifle.

"WELL I'M SORRY I DIDN'T PACK ANY!" Heliang yelled back.

Ivan was crouched behind a supply crate, scanning the battlefield. He could hear the chain guns, he could see the ground being torn up by it, but he couldn't see the battlewalker. Just then, a sinister realization dawned upon him

The machine was cloaked.

"Get on the ground!" Ivan yelled into his mike, "It's invisible!"

"Great, if we had some EMP, we could see it!" Kush yelled as he kept running. Unfortunately, the running attracted the attention of the battlewalker pilot, who promptly redirected his fire. Kush's body disappeared in a cloud of dirt and snow.

"Kush, no!" Zhang Yi yelled as he ran toward his fallen friend, only to meet the same fate.

"Goddamit," Ivan snarled. He keyed in his radio to the commander onboard the Orlov. "This is Sergeant Ivan Morzhovy, Alpha leader, requesting large scale EMP strike at silo one!"

"Alpha?" the commander's voice cracked through his helmet, "are you the idiots responsible for those damned missiles coming at the Titan?"

"Sir yes sir," Ivan yelled back, "We had no silo programmer with us and my squadmates thought that they could reprogram the silo. But right now we're pinned down by a battlewalker and we need that EMP strike now!"

"We don't see a battlewalker at your position," the commander replied, "It's not showing up on the scans."

"The damned thing is cloaked," Ivan yelled as the walker now directed its fire towards Tanya, who ducked behind an empty supply trailer.

"Understood, EMP strike, your coordinates." The commander sighed.

Three teardrops fell from the sky and illuminated the earth with blue sparks. The EU battlewalker materialized from thin air, its cloaking system disabled.

"Heliang!" Ivan yelled, "shoot it now!"

"Understood," Heliang replied and aimed a well shot round into where the walker's legs and turret connected.

The mighty battlewalker's engine coolant compartment was ruptured, causing its temperatures to heat up exponentially. Sparks began flying from where the round met the metal, and before the pilot had a chance to bail out, the machine exploded.

On the other side, Tanya was bandaging Zhang Yi's wounds. Kush had taken eight rounds in his back as well as two in his head. There was no way for him to be saved. Zhang Yi was shot twice in the leg and three times in the back. He's alive but just barely.

Looking at his broken squadmates, Ivan sat down in the snow and began crying.


	5. Extraction

"Hey, Ivan," Tanya put her hand on his shoulder. "I've called in for an extraction, we're done today."

"No we're not," Ivan looked up, his eyes hidden behind his visor. "We need to secure the LZ before the transport touches down."

"Ivan, be reasonable," Tanya sat down. "We have no sniper support, our morale is busted, and we're stuck here without a silo programmer. That walker is down, we're done here."

"It's not fair," Ivan pounded his rifle into the snow. "That should've been me, not Kush."

"It's not your fault," Zhang Yi rasped. "Y-you, needed to live. If it w-wasn't for you, we'd all be dead."

"Still," Ivan looked away from his battered squad.

"No 'still', c'mon, the transport's here." Tanya dragged him up as the Yastreb clamored down. Six fresh Coalition Army soldiers hopped off the transport and deployed a sentry gun while a single engineer tried to undo the damage to the silo's computer.

"Who the hell had the bright idea of shooting this thing?" The burly Russian engineer at the console growled.

"That'd be me," Tanya replied defiantly.

"I should shoot you right here, right now," The man replied, "this entire console's busted. The only thing we can do now is set up some charges and blow this silo. It's useless now. Nice job."

"Hey, at least now the EU can't use this one either," Tanya smiled.

"Zacroy s'voy pisavati rot suka!" The engineer roared. "If it wasn't for your idiocy, we would be ahead of the EU in silo counts right now!"

Tanya's arms stiffened at the man's words. It wasn't the knowledge that the EU and the PAC are now even in silo control that struck her anger, but the fact that she was being insulted by this snobby engineer.

"I'd take back those words if I were you," Tanya snarled.

"Or what suka?" the engineer wheeled about, bringing his Malkov to bear.

"Put the damned thing away," The squad leader stood between the two. "If you want to kill each other, do it when we're back on the Titan."

"Not worth my bullets anyways." The engineer spat and took out his sudnik launcher.

"Tanya," Ivan grabbed her arm and whispered. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Seriously, let's move, the pilot's looking pissed." Heliang said as he grabbed the ad hoc stretcher carrying Zhang Yi.

His action seemed to have jolted Tanya back into reality. She gave the engineer a murderous look that was hidden behind her visor before she picked up the other end of the stretcher and boarded the transport.

Ivan didn't board just yet, he walked to the crimson snow where Kush's body laid and picked up the dog tags. This man would receive the honors of a confirmed KIA. As his fist clenched around the small cold tag, Ivan silently promised that he would personally make sure that Kush receive more than just a KIA. The man deserved an Order of the Lotus Banner.

"Ivan, let's go!" Heliang yelled as the Yastreb's engines began warming up.

"Alright, let's get back aboard the Titan," Ivan climbed into the transport.

"So, Tanya," Heliang put his arm around her shoulder, "how's it going between you and that engineer eh?"

"I want to murder him and feed him his testicles by slices while he roasts over a fire." She replied. "But other than that, we're good."

"Oh, I don't think you want to do that," Heliang smiled slyly. "I think you want something else."

"Oh please," Tanya removed her helmet and flashed Heliang a stare cold enough to freeze an eskimo.

"Oh I think I see something going on between the two of you," Heliang's smile grew wider. "First we have some tension, then some yelling, then a fist fight, and finally you jump each other and declare your undying love for each other one grunted syllable at a time."

"Keep talking, and you'll find yourself in a casket." Tanya said matter-of-factly.

"I dunno," the pilot turned around, "I think the kid's got a point."

"Shouldn't you keep your eyes forward?" Tanya asked, clearly annoyed.

"It's on autopilot," the pilot replied, "So, what are you two going to do on your first date?"

"Good grief," Tanya exclaimed, "it's just a fight, nothing more will come out of it!"

"I dunno," the pilot winked. "Your squad is down one man, you'll need a replacement. Who knows."

"You know, I think I took some flying lessons before," Tanya turned to Ivan.

"Huh?" Ivan asked, not paying attention to the conversation at all.

"I think I took some flying lessons," Tanya repeated herself, "I don't think we need a pilot."

"Alright, alright," the pilot turned around, "just trying to lighten the mood. Killjoy."

The faint red shield of the Orlov appeared in view as the Yastreb clunked through the sky. Remarkably, nothing has tried to shoot down the transport. Not even the usual Talon made a random foray into the area. The pilot disengaged the autopilot function and took the controls as the Yastreb shuddered upon nearing the Titan. The shuddering grew stronger and louder while the craft slowed for final touchdown. In about thirty seconds, the transport was sitting on the deck of the Titan while a team of medicas rushed forth and brought down Zhang Yi.

"I need two units type O," one of the medics yelled as he placed a gurney underneath the stretcher.

"None here, wheel him down first." the other medic yelled back as he hooked an oxygen mask over Zhang Yi's face.

"Hemostatic gel?" the first medic asked.

"Last pack on me, there's word that Delta squad took some serious pounding at silo seven." the other medic yelled. "Something about an invisible walker. Shit, if that were true, then we need to dip into the supply crates downstairs."

"Dammit," the first medic grumbled as the two wheeled Zhang Yi to the infirmary, "we're going to run out of supplies soon if the assault doesn't yield anything soon."

"You're telling me," the other medic replied, "at least we're due in for some resupply from Europe soon. Hell, just hope that those ports in Germany can remain open. Because if those are gone, then we're completely cut off."

As the two medics disappeared, Ivan couldn't help remember the statement about an invisible walker. That means the EU has just changed the rules of the game. If you can't see a walker coming, no matter how much firepower you can pump into your walkers, you're still a sitting duck.

"We need to tell the commander about the invisible walkers." Ivan turned to Tanya.

"No need," Tanya pointed behind Ivan. The commander was there, and he didn't look very pleased.


	6. Story Time

"Alright Morzhovy, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do," the commander growled.

"Sir," Ivan replied, "what would you like to know first sir?"

"First off," the commander said, "I want to know about the walker. If your information satisfies me, I won't bother about the silo fiasco. Got it?"

"Sir yes sir," Ivan yelled. "The walker was cloaked, apparently the EU has taken our original advances in the IT-33 and improved upon it. There were no telltale signs of the usual humming noise nor were there any shimmering in the air. For all practical purposes, the EU has perfected the cloaking device."

"Dammit," the commander muttered, "that means this entire op is slated for failure. If the EU can land a walker behind a fireteam at silos, then there's not a damned thing we can do. How the hell did you manage to recognize the walker?"

"I know the sound sir," Ivan replied, "I was part of Migration and Deception. I was also there at Treblinka before the Coalition was formed. Not to mention two tours in Belgrade and Minsk at the opening of this war."

"Impressive record Sergeant," the commander noted, "But apparently not impressive enough to save all your squad. Although you're doing better than Delta. Word is, the transport that went down to retrieve them got smeared. We haven't heard from either of them. They're as good as dead."

"Sir, requesting permission to perform rescue mission!" Ivan exclaimed.

"Denied," the commander said, "we need you here, besides, your squad needs some R and R. Once Epsilon comes back from silo one, we'll assign their team engineer to your squad. I heard their machine gunner knows how to work those silo consoles so they won't be needing their other programmer."

At the commander's suggestion, Tanya's arm stiffened while Heliang shot her a knowing look.

"Don't even think about it," she whispered.

"Oh, too late," Heliang smirked.

"Alright," the commander's stern expression softened. "Go see your sniper in the infirmary."

"Sir," Ivan said, "requesting permission to speak."

"Granted," the commander replied.

"Sir," Ivan said, "My fallen teammate Kush Arya died nobly in face of overwhelming odds. He was determined to protect the squad, sacrificing his life to help us located the cloaked walker. In accordance to military protocols, I believe he is at grounds for an Order of the Lotus Banner."

"I'll consider it," the commander said, "but don't count on it. The Order of the Lotus Banner is a heavy award, I'm not sure if the brass upstairs is willing to heap the honor onto a normal foot soldier. Now get out of here."

"Understood sir!" Ivan replied, repressing the grief in his voice.

"Alright, let's see Zhang Yi," Heliang pulled Ivan towards him. "Also, we need to make sure Tanya and that engineer's rooms are at least two corridors away. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of creaking bedsprings. Hell, I could use a decent nap."

"One more word and I swear to your gods," Tanya growled menacingly.

"Sorry kiddo," Heliang smiled, "I'm an atheist."

"You got the point I was making," Tanya replied as the three entered the infirmary.

The infirmary was a sickly sight. The groans of the wounded filled up the room. Half the beds are bloodsoaked. The medics were scurrying around, yelling for blood and plasma. Three men were in such bad condition that the medics gave their sidearms to them and said to take care of the pain themselves. Three shots rang out and three men were carried out of the infirmary.

"Jesus, Joseph, and doggy-style Mary," Heliang breathed. "Where is Zhang Yi."

"Right there," Ivan pointed. "I recognize that arm from anywhere."

"How so?" Tanya asked. "Anything we should know about you two's sex life?"

"Ha ha," Ivan replied sarcastically. "No, we were both at Treblinka before the formation of the Coalition. You might want to ask him about it. Be sure to not use the words 'tank', he's still pretty bitter about it."

"Wait a minute," Heliang piqued, "Wasn't Treblinka the battle where the Eurasian Alliance broke apart into the EU and Russia and where the East Asian Federation lost a strategic victory that led to the formation of the Pan Asian Coalition?"

"Bingo," Ivan smiled, "That's where Zhang Yi and I met. He was the leading tank officer for the EAF. Turns out he was also a crack shot with the sniper rifle. Nearly killed General Vladomirovic if the man didn't move his head to the left at the last second."

"Wait, he used to command tanks?" Heliang asked.

"Yep, you mean you never notice how he's always eyeballing the Nekomatas?" Ivan asked back. "He wants to be sitting in the command seat, where he belongs. But Military Command replaced all the EAF officers with Russians to ensure loyalty. Bit of a damned shame if you ask me. He led a column of light assault tanks that took out almost two columns of the old Vladimir tanks."

"Couldn't he apply for a transfer?" Tanya asked. "He has the qualifications."

"Nope," Ivan replied, "his military records showed that he used to be an officer of the EAF. The highest rank he can attain now is corporal. Besides, we're having trouble holding onto China and Japan as it is. Too bad most of our technology comes from there. I seriously didn't think I'd survive my encounter with Zhang Yi."

"What happened?" Tanya asked.

"Let's wake him up," Ivan laughed, "you can ask him yourself."

The three made the way to the tankist turned sniper. Tanya sat down on the bed, rummaged through her medicine kit, and found a stimulant. She injected it into Zhang Yi's arm, and a minute later, he opened his eyes.

"Aw hell no," he coughed, "I got the other end."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Heliang asked.

"This can't be heaven," Zhang Yi replied, "You're here."

"You think you're dead?" Ivan smiled.

"Might as well be," Zhang Yi smiled back, "my damned legs feel useless. Pain's everywhere. And I think I still feel the bullet."

"You big baby," Heliang shook his head. "The bullet's removed, you're fine."

"Except a shredded liver, eighteen broken bones, and seven severed arteries." Tanya read his charts. "Not too shabby, at least I managed to patch up your arteries before transferring you up here. Otherwise you'd be dead."

"I guess I owe you one," Zhang Yi replied, mischief twinkling in his eyes. "How about after I get better, we meet up in my quarters for some genuine thanks."

"No." Tanya's answer ended the conversation on an awkward note of silence.

"So," Ivan broke the ice, "Zhang Yi, your squadmates want to hear the thrilling story of when we first met. Care to indulge them?"

"Oh jeez," Zhang Yi groaned, "They want to hear how I pointed an empty pistol to your head?"

"Oh that's not the whole story," Ivan laughed. "Remember what happened afterwards?"

"Vividly," Zhang Yi replied, "You knew the pistol was empty."

"Yep," Ivan said, "didn't take too much to disable you and take you prisoner again."

"Hmph," Zhang Yi scoffed, "At least I still managed to get a shot off."

"Nearly killed the general," Ivan laughed, "Too bad he turned."

"You try hanging on a ledge by your fingertips and sniping," Zhang Yi retorted.

"How'd you get yourself into that situation?" Heliang asked incredulously.

"When I first got captured after my tank broke down, I tried to break out but the guard would be constantly watching me. So in a stroke of brilliance, I broke my dinner plate, pissed him off since he had to pass me my food by coming into the cell." Zhang Yi replied, "So as he came into the cell to deliver my food, I snapped his neck. Then I took his clothes and got out. Didn't help that the only language that I knew was Chinese."

"Then how did you communicate?" Heliang asked in Chinese.

"Didn't need to," Zhang Yi replied in his native language. "Most of the guards don't talk. I snuck out to the armory, it really helps that they have pictures on their warhouses. Once I got inside, I grabbed a sniper rifle. As I was leaving, somebody stopped me and said something, couldn't understand a word of it at the time."

"Let me guess you shot him?" Heliang asked.

"Nyet," Zhang Yi relapsed into Russian. "I swun my rifle like a bat at him and took off running."

"You know," Ivan interrupted, "I think the mark is still there on my head."

"Hell," Zhang Yi laughed. "If you didn't come after me when you got back up, I would've had a clear shot into the general's head."

"Yeah, forced him to jump down a ledge," Ivan explained. "He just sort of hung there, before I could get out my pistol, he took a shot. Damn he was fast."

"What happened afterwards." Tanya asked, absorbed by the story.

"He jumped," Ivan replied. "Bastard threw himself down the ledge, grabbed the piping and swung into the comm tower. Killed nearly everyone in there until he ran out of bullets. That's when I showed up."

"You were lucky," Zhang Yi replied, "I killed three more with my bare hands before you showed up. You kicked down the door, and next thing I knew I was looking at the barrel of an assault rifle."

"And you decided to provoke a standoff," Ivan smiled. "Good thing neither of us had our guns loaded."

"Yeah, you're a good guy Ivan," Zhang Yi replied as he closed his eyes. "Good enough to keep the guards from killing me when I got back in prison."

"Well, that's that." Ivan said to his squad as their friend fell back into a deep slumber.

"Kind of want to hear what really happened at Treblinka." Heliang muttered. "Only thing I could find in the records was that it was the first battlefield deployment of walkers and the battle that formed the PAC, apart from that, nothing."

"That's story for another time," Ivan said. "Let's get topside, I think Epsilon is due back soon."

"Bet Tanya'll be happy," Heliang laughed.

He got a swift punch to his right solar plexus.


	7. The past and the present

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

So I'm starting to run out of ideas for this story, some suggestions would be nice. As of right now, I'm starting to focus more on my other as of yet unpubished work about the stories that are being told here (i.e. Treblinka, the Religious Wars, and the Alliance War)

But before I start taking suggestions, I want to have some outlines:

1. no sex. Seriously, good stories don't need a 13 year old's fantasies to be a good story, read The Count of Monte Cristo.

2. no implausible technology. What I've loved about science fiction is that there's always a kernel of real science in all the dreams. So unless you can somehow persuade me that anti-matter can be used as a powering device, it ain't happening.

3. Forget Europe, the Orlov ain't going back and this chapter will keep it from going back. I never liked how all discussions of world wars have always ended up in Europe, that continent is so 20th century.

Right, now that that's out of the way, let's pick up where we left off.

--

The second Yastreb touched down on the landing deck of Orlov, and the medics immediately swarmed around it like vultures around a dead carcass. Fortunately, nobody was hurt seriously enough to warrant immediate attention. The members of Epsilon squad jumped down from the transport. Their leader, an old, battle-hardened Sergeant Major, looked to Ivan and asked.

"Sergeant Ivan Morzhovy?"

"Sir!" Ivan replied.

"I'm Sergeant Major Nikolai Pyotrovich Avatomat, leader of Epsilon," the old man said. "The commander informed me that my engineer is transferred to your squad."

"Sir yes sir," Ivan replied.

"Watch that medic of yours," Avatomat warned. "These two would be more than willing to kill each other on sight if you leave them alone."

"Understood sir," Ivan replied.

"Viktor!" Avatomat yelled, "You're now part of Alpha squad, get your shit together and move."

The engineer scowled as he strode toward Ivan, disdain clearly showing in his eyes.

"Is there a problem?" Ivan asked, unintimidated by the man's size and attitude.

"That suka of yours," Viktor grunted.

"That 'suka' might save your life one day," Ivan stared into the man's dark eyes, "I wouldn't piss her off if I were you."

Viktor grunted and walked past Ivan.

"So what do you think?" Avatomat asked.

"Man seems like a loose cannon," Ivan remarked.

"He is," Avatomat replied, "but I'll be damnned to find a better engineer. He could decode those silos faster than a starving man goes through a Christmas goose. Damned quick at fixing broken equipments too."

"Hopefully he won't cause too much trouble," Ivan said.

"He won't," Avatomat replied. "You just need to break him in. Once he accepts that he can't be transferred back and that he's part of your squad, everything should run smoothly."

"Yeah, I guess," Ivan muttered.

"Say, kid," Avatomat said, "you look familiar. Have I met you before?"

"You've met me at the silo down there," Ivan replied.

"No, no," Avatomat shook his head. "You look familiar. Tell me where you fought."

"In this war or during the Alliance War?" Ivan asked.

"You fought in the Alliance War?" an astonished Avatomat asked.

"Yep, first found combat at Treblinka," Ivan replied proudly.

"Under Sokolov?" Avatomat asked.

"Yeah!" Ivan exclaimed. "Were you also under him?" "Damned straight I was," Avatomat laughed. "Poor bastard had me loading the shells to the forefront artillery piece. I thought I was cooked."

"I wasn't so lucky," Ivan started laughing too, "I got stuck setting up artillery points for the third row back up in the second peak. That was the first area hit by those damned East Asian rounds."

"You were on that second hill?" Avatomat asked, "Damn kid, you're a tough cookie."

"I remember the first row of artillery got smeared pretty quick too," Ivan said. "How'd you get out?"

"Remember Pavlichenko?" Avatomat asked.

"Yeah," Ivan replied, "Nice kid, brilliant. Too bad he didn't make it."

"Not a lot of us did," Avatomat said darkly. "Poor kid, he would've made a lieutenant by now, with his brains."

"Sokolov didn't make it either," Ivan reminisced. "Shame, he survived the Religious Wars, but not Treblinka."

"He would've loved this," Avatomat wiped a tear from his eye. "Who'd imagined back then that we'd have these flying fortresses and walking tanks?"

"The Americans and the Chinese," Ivan said. "The African Campaign was a bloody one. Half a million men died the first day of fighting at Tunis, and it was all because of their damned Jove Airships. And Treblinka wasn't easy either, those damned Type-2's practically walked all over us. I still don't know how the hell we won that one."

"Damned glad I didn't fight in Africa back then," Avatomat breathed, "who'd thought I'm here now."

"Be more glad that our orbital strikes managed to clear their EFL defense system." Ivan said. "Shit, I remember the reports. Three Jove Airships went down before they had a chance. That didn't stop the American advance though."

"Those were the days," Avatomat looked up at the sky tinted red by the Titan's shields. "Don't you feel our weapons have become less sophisticated than before?"

"Maybe it's a good thing," Ivan laughed. "Hell, I rather face a Riesig than a Type-2. I still remember ducking behind the barracks while one of those things tore up half the camp."

"We nearly lost that battle," Avatomat said. "It wasn't until those twenty armies in Europe were brought back to the Motherland that we were able to push back. And by then, we'd already lost our grip on Treblinka as well as half of Chelyabinks. And even then, it was a bloody march toward Beijing."

"They threw everything at us," Ivan shook his head as he remembered firing at what seemed like an endless wall of coming troops. "By the time we got to Beijing, I heard that there were only a hundred of us left from the Fourth Army."

"It's lucky the EAF went along with the formation of this alliance." Avatomat sighed, "Otherwise, we'd be dead."

"You know," Ivan said, "I don't think our weapons got less sophisticated, I think we just gotten used to things."

"I think so too comrade," Avatomat lit up a cigarette.

"You should probably rest," Ivan said, "I'll be in my quarters, come visit if you want."

"Ha," Avatomat laughed, "We could trade stories."

"No kidding," Ivan said as he left.

The encounter with the old soldier shook Ivan's nerves. He had tried for the past ten years to put Treblinka out of his memory. But every attempt had failed. He periodically woke up in the middle of the night, screaming. Sometimes he saw the hydrogen tipped artillery shells landing around the mountain with deadly precision. Sometimes he saw Vassily Martov's body being trampled by the foot of a Type-2. Sometimes he saw the East Asian tanks bearing down on the helpless infantrymen who ran out of ammo and ran out of luck. Sometimes he saw the pitiable conditions in the medical tent, where men lay dying, begging for water that wasn't there. He still remembered the smell of death, a rotten stench mixed with the acrid smell of gunpowder. He was still lost in his nightmarish memories when he entered the quarters, only to be hit by the blast of a stun grenade.

"What the hell is going on?" Ivan roared.

"Well, Tanya and Viktor are getting to know each other," Heliang replied sheepishly. "Not exactly the way I imagined, but at least they're talking."

"Yelling would be more accurate," Ivan shook his head, trying to get rid of the disorienting effect of the stun grenade.

"Well, at least the make up sex would be great," Heliang laughed.

"I think it'll turn out like a mantis mating ritual," Ivan replied, "The female bites the head off the male while they're going at it and eats him while he unloads."

"Care to wager?" Heliang asked.

"Not too interested," Ivan shook his head.

"Aw c'mon," Heliang pleaded, "there's nothing to do until Zhang Yi gets back from the infirmary, might as well make a wager."

"Nah, I'm going to piss one of them off, and both of them scare me," Ivan rasied his hands in mock surrender.

"Ivan, you used to be more fun," Heliang sighed as he sat down to watch Tanya and Viktor proceed to raising their fists.

"Yeah well, times have changed," Ivan said as he pulled out his sidearm and fired two rounds into the ceiling. "Alright, break it up!"

"Tell this nikulturny bastard to stop insulting me first," Tanya snarled.

"Tell this suka to stop harping on me about that," Viktor said.

"How about both of you stop pulling this kind of shit?" Ivan asked, his pistol still pointed in their general direction.

Neither of them said a word, a loaded pistol was always something to be feared.

"Alright, next time I hear the two of you are going at it," Ivan warned, "I'm going to shoot you both. Understood?"

"Yes sir," both soldiers hung their heads.

"Good, now get some rest," Ivan turned on his heels and left their quarters.

The next few days saw very little open altercation between Tanya and Viktor, but the two found brilliant ways to harrass each other. Tanya found out the hard way that her toothpaste replaced with superglue, an incident that surprised the irate medics, most of whom had expected this from gamma squad. A day later, Viktor found his repair kit filled with broken equipments and a note that told him how to find his tools. Then immediately after that, Tanya's medical hub's password was changed. It wasn't until Viktor found that his NetBAT ID had been tampered with to show him as an EU soldier that the two decided to call it quits.

In the time it took for Alpha squad to get their acts together, the initial phases of Operation Motherland has been carried out successfully. Most of North Africa now firmly belongs in the hands of the Pan Asian Coalition. Now it was time for the second phase of the operation: storming the major food and energy sources. Shuhia Taiba and the Sidi power plant had been finally taken, but that still left three major food production facilities deep within the Saharan jungle. As the Orlov and her sister Titans trudged south, the PAC now began relocating its massive populations toward the equatorial regions. The European theatre has been completely abandoned due to lack of use for the land. It took the Coalition three years to realize that. By the time the last PAC forces left from Europe, the nuclear weapons that man had long feared since the twentieth century razed the bloodsoaked continent.

And now, Africa, the cradle of human civilization, beckons her children to return.


	8. Entering the city

The Yastreb shuddered as it banked hard to the right, avoiding a Pilum round. Ivan held onto the side rail to keep himself still within the transport. The Orlov's undercarriage cannons rained death and destruction upon the ground anti-air units. Most of the EU forces were concentrated in the Niger river basin, and in a strategic strike, the PAC has turned its eyes upon the Horn of Africa, more specifically Mogadishu, location for one of the three biggest food production facilities on the continent.

"Hold on to your lunch!" The pilot barked into the mike as he banked away from a second Pilum round.

"LZ's too hot!" The copilot yelled, "we need to clear those flak guns!"

On the ground, three anti-air cannons were blasting the sky with brilliant flashes of blue and red.

"Dammit," The pilot cursed as he saw an EMP missile lock on to his transport's heat signature. "Deploy countermeasures!"

"Still recharging!" The copilot yelled.

"Not the active defense, the goddamned flares!" The pilot yelled as he pulled the Yastreb into a steep climb.

"We have three left, not enough to fool those EMPs," The copilot yelled as the missile impacted into the engine.

The Yastreb shook in the air as it spun out of control, its engines temporarily disabled. In theory, EMP missiles can't do much physically, but as the Cold War escalated, both the PAC and the EU has upgraded their EMP missiles to do more than temporarily disable the enemy's fighting abilities.

Now, these missiles were designed to disable and kill.

"Shit, we lost engine one," the pilot cursed. "This is going to be trouble."

"We can drop here," Ivan offered.

"No can do," the copilot turned around, "See the ground below you? If you drop now, the EU will be all over you. There may not be much of them, but it's their damned allies that'll get you."

"Transport YSB-118 to Orlov, requesting orbital strike in grid eight," the pilot dialed in for an orbital strike.

"Negative YSB-118," the commander's voice crackled over the radio. "Orbital strike unit is still recharging. Give me another minute."

"Sir, with all due respect, we don't have another goddamned minute!" The pilot yelled as he pulled the Yastreb into a barrel roll to avoid another pilum shot.

"We can offer you a Geosynch strike," the commander suggested. "Be warned, provide us the coordinates accordingly, you will be within range of the strike."

"We'll take anything you got!" The pilot yelled back into the mike.

"Very well, we'll need coordinates," the commander replied.

"X coordinates 34.45, Y coordinates 12.24," the copilot read off his display.

"Coordinates received, back yourselves into grid seven and watch the fireworks. Geosynch strike ETA ten minutes" the commander's connection clicked off.

"Shit," the pilot breathed, "I busted an engine coming in, and now I got to hustle out?"

"Looks like it," the copilot responded, "let's get this puppy out."

"I can probably do some preliminary repairs on the engine," Viktor suggested.

"Do that, we'll need all we can get to get this thing out of here," the pilot consented.

Viktor strapped himself to the railing and attached the magnetic disks to his gloves that would keep him on the hull of the transport. Once outside, the squad trained their guns on the ground, providing indiscriminate fire to keep the EU soldiers on the ground from harrassing their engineer. Taking out his HOFF-3000 Repair tool, Viktor engaged the screwdriver and began removing the large screws on the engine plate. Once he took out all four screws, the engine plate came off easily enough.

"Damn," he breathed, "engine integrity's shot to hell, I can see through this hole to the other side."

"Can you do something about it?" Ivan asked as he mowed down an EU SAM personnel who was stupid enough to try shooting at the Yastreb.

"Not much," Viktor responded, "I mean, I can re-magnetize the coils so we can direct some energy into the engine, but I don't know how long that'll last."

"Just do something!" The pilot yelled, "the geosynch strike is due in another six minutes!"

"Alright, alright," Viktor yelled back as he took out two paddles, attached them to the HOFF-3000, and placed them next to the now demagnetized coils.

"Five minutes," the copilot noted.

"Dammit, shut up so I can work!" Viktor muttered, "damned zoomies."

"I heard that!" the pilot yelled as the Yastreb shook from a nearby flak round.

"Zacroy rot!" Viktor barked at the pilot as he charged the HOFF, three seconds later, it released 4000 volts of electricity at twelve amps, remagnetizing the coils.

"Engine funciton restored, good job," the pilot yelled.

"Yeah, yeah," Viktor muttered as he welded the plate back on to the engine and climbed back into the transport.

Heads up, enemy gunship!" the copilot yelled.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" The pilot groaned as he pushed the Yastreb into a steep dive.

The Talon immediately pursued, bristling with firepower.

"Line me up for a clear shot of him!" The copilot said.

"No can do," The pilot said through clenched teeth, "If I turn around he'll smear us with those air-to-air missiles.

"Dammit," the copilot muttered. "Hey, one of you ground pounders take a shot at that damned thing following us."

"On it," Tanya replied as she swung the undercarriage machine gun toward the Talon and let loose a stream of hot lead.

The Talon's pilot, evidently expecting this, bank slightly and placed himself out of the sights of the Yastreb machine guns.

"How long until the Geosynch strike?" Ivan asked.

"Thirty seconds, we're still too close!" the pilot replied as he gunned the engine with the Talon in hot pursuit.

* * *

Sergeant Patrick O'Donnel smiled to himself as he watched the Yastreb speed away from his Talon. There must be a damned large number of personnel on that transport, otherwise they would've bailed by now. Either way, it didn't matter to him as the targeting computer on his HUD showed that the Yastreb was locked on. Looking to the picture of his family taped next to him, he silently promised. _Daddy'll get revenge for you John, he'll kill the people who dared to harm you_.

"Good night," O'Donnel whispered as he fired his ordnance.

* * *

"He fired!" The copilot yelled.

"Deploying countermeasures,' The pilot replied and engaged the active defense. A jade green field emenated out from the transport. The active defense system wasn't one that stopped physical weapons, rather, it was merely a bubble shield of energy that causes the sensitive fuses in a projectile to malfunction and blow up said projectile at a safe distance from the transport. Even so, that didn't stop soldiers from calling active defense a shield, and as a result, countless soldiers have taken refuge underneat a walker flaring its active defense only to be shot by a simple assault rifle.

* * *

"Dammit," O'Donnel cursed as he saw his missiles explode prematurely. He had fired all twelve missiles, and the Talon needed at least ten seconds before he could fire again. But he didn't get a chance to fire a second salvo as a thin rod fell from the inky blackness of space and pierced the ground, releasing 5 kilotons of energy into the surrounding area. The EU defensive position in grid eight were pulverized into dust, the surrounding trees became wood shavings. As his gunship succumbed to the concussive roar from the heavens, O'Donnel could've sworn he saw the face of his wife and child smiling at him in the sky.

* * *

"Holy shit," Tanya stared out the transport. What were once trees and soldiers, there was only a giant empty pit.

"Why don't we just use those to take out the enemy Titans?" Heliang asked.

"You didn't think we tried?" the copilot asked back. "We tried to do just that at Minsk, worked bloody well for the first two days, then the EU got smart and realized all they needed to do was rout the energy from the Titan engines to the upper decks and create a magnetic field that'll slow the projectile enough so that when it does hit the Titan, it just sort of bounces off."

"Why couldn't they just do that here?" Heliang asked.

"Not enough power," Viktor replied, "a Titan engine is basically a nuclear reactor, very condensed but still manages to put out about twenty gigawatts of power. To take that technology and move on the ground is tantamount to suicide. You ever wonder why when Titans explode, we try to get the hell away from it?"

"I figure it was from the exploding Titan," Heliang replied.

"Well, partly that," Viktor nodded, "but also because of the sheer energy released from it. Titans are tough, their hulls are designed to withstand nuclear explosions, and when the reactors blow, they can rip through a Titan. Just imagine the amount of energy it packs."

Heliang whistled and went back to watching the empty crater. Viktor's becoming more and more friendly as he learned to get along with the squad. Occasionally he'd trade a few remarks with Tanya, but as far as Ivan could see, it was more flirting than actual hostility. All of which was fine, since the squad didn't need to be more fractured as they're now beginning the full scope of Operation Motherland.

"Alright, since we've cleared out that pocket of resistence," the pilot announced, "we'll be dropping you lot off toward the center of the city to rendevouz with the main assault group."

"Understood," Ivan replied, "Squad! Prepare for combat, check your gears, eyes on me. We go in quick, we go in hard. Once we link up with the rest of the assault teams, wait for my orders."

"Sir yes sir!" his squad replied in unison.

"You damned groundpounders are some weird motherfuckers," the copilot chuckled.

As the Yastreb cleared the area and buildings came into view, Ivan looked down at the ground and he could already see the Nekomata tanks barreling down the street, firing their cannons. He looked over the Zhang Yi and saw the tanker-turned-sniper's hands twitch as if they were at the controls of a tank.

"Miss your old job?" Ivan asked as he checked his Voss.

"You're damned right I do," Zhang Yi replied as he tested his decoy.

"Maybe one day you'll find yourself back in a tank," Ivan suggested as he watched the chaos unfold in the streets.

"No way," Zhang Yi replied bitterly as he saw a Tiger explode in a fireball.

"With that attitude, of course not," Ivan laughed as the Nekomatas formed a triangle and charged down the streets.

"Damn, those Nekomatas are flexible," Zhang Yi remarked. "I wish the Type-56II's were as flexible. If we had two columns of Nekomatas, we would've taken Treblinka, and I'd still be sitting in a tank right now."

"Don't worry about it, things happen for a reason," Ivan reassured him, "hell, when I was a kid, I fell while skating and broke both my front teeth. I was depressed for about a whole year as I went through treatment, but in the end, if it weren't for those teeth, I would've joined the Novgorod division, the ones that are trained to fight on ice. I remember when they nearly got wiped out during the Religious Wars taking Belgrade."

"So what's gonna be for me?" Zhang Yi asked, his eyes still fixated on the triangle of Nekomatas tearing up the streets of Mogadishu.

"Dunno," Ivan muttered as the Yastreb began to slow.

Just then, a Mitchell SAM slammed into the cockpit, shredding the heavy duty glass as well as ripping the two pilots into bloody ribbons. The Yastreb spun out of control into the streets below. Gunfires erupted from the surrounding buildings as PAC traded shot for shot with the EU and their Afrian allies.

"Brace yourself!" Ivan yelled to his squad as the world around them turned into a dizzying display of colors. Viktor was cursing fluently in Russian while Heliang was doing the same in Chinese. Tanya gripped her medical hub tightly to her, but the most stoic of them all was Zhang Yi. He simply stood where he sat, his hands resting on his Park rifle as the world spun away from him.

The Yastreb flipped in the air, tossing the five soldiers about within it. Its joints creaked and groaned like a man being tortured. Around them, explosions rang out as the war in the streets raged. The tail snapped away with a sickening crunch and the Yastreb's descent became even more erratic.

"Ivan, we need to jump, now!" Zhang Yi calmly turned to his squad leader.

"Dammit, we don't know what's down there!" Ivan yelled, betraying the fear in his voice.

"Trust me, once this thing hits the ground, we'll all end up with sprained ankles and broken bones," Zhang Yi advised, "we'll be sitting ducks."

"Alright then," Ivan agreed, "Squad! On me!"

The five soldiers grabbed the side rails and bailed from the falling transport. Deploying their parachutes, they turned and saw as the Yastreb fell away into the streets in a ball of fire.

"Alright, I'm marking a suitable landing zone with my NetBAT," Zhang Yi said.

Ivan couldn't disagree with the soldier. As the squad landed on the ground, he wondered just who was really directing the squad this time. But before he could say anything, Zhang Yi turned to him and said:

"Your call sir."

"Right," Ivan hesitated. "Spread out, let's take that building."

The five soldiers moved toward a dilapidated building and paused at the door. Viktor approached it, attached a small device on the lock, and backed away. Ten seconds later, the device exploded, allowing the squad to breach the door.

"Fspishka!" Viktor yelled as he tossed a stun grenade inside. The concussive roar was followed by the sound of men yelling in a language that didn't sound like English.

"Go, go, go!" Ivan yelled as he switched his Voss to shotgun mode. Heliang took point, spraying the room with his Shuko, cutting down the disoriented African soldiers. A man came down the stairs, his gun raised.

The Voss rang out and lifted the man off his feet.

Two more men came down the stairs and was greeted by a storm of bullets.

"Granata!" Zhang Yi yelled as he flung a grenade through the stairs.

The panicked voices of men was muffled by an explosion.

"Toss another stun grenade!" Ivan ordered. Viktor unscrewed a second stun grenade and tossed it through the same spot where Zhang Yi's grenade went through. The defeaning bang shook some plaster loose from the ceilings.

"Folow me!" Ivan yelled as he stormed up the stairs, his Voss at the ready. When he got up to the second level, there were only dead bodies on the ground.

"Heliang," he ordred, "scan the room."

"Yessir," Heliang replied as he took out the DysTek Pulse Meter. After scanning the room and no positive signs were set up, he gave the all clear signal. The entire squad lowered their weapons.

"Alright," Ivan informed his squad. "We're still a good distance away from the main battle group, we need to find a way to link up with them and continue on to the assault on the city."

"Can't we just call the commander and ask where everybody is?" Heliang asked.

"We could, but that'd run the risk of detection by the EU." Ivan replied. "You've seen the condition in this building, they have the place locked down. Calling for help is tantamount to suicide."

"So what are we gonna do?" Tanya asked.

"Well, before we jumped," Zhang Yi said, "I saw a silo about eight klicks from here. We could try and move through the buildings until we get to that silo. Once we're there, we could radio in for backup."

"Seems like a good idea," Viktor asserted. "I say we do it."

"So does the title squad leader mean nothing to you guys?" Ivan asked, exasperated at his team's apparent insuboridination.

"If it meant nothing, we would've already been on our way," Viktor responded.

"Fine, we'll go through the buildings," Ivan said, "Heliang, pass out supplies. We'll start moving at night."


	9. Under the cover of night

Night came fast in Mogadishu. The dim sun sank into the labyrintine buildings and night rushed forth from the earth. The soldiers of Alpha squad began showing signs of life as night descended on the city.

"Alright, scan the streets," Ivan whispered to Heliang.

The soldier took out his DysTek Pulse Meter and scanned the streets below. It came back empty.

"Clear," Heliang turned to his squadmates.

"Let's move," Ivan motioned toward the door and led his squad downstairs.

The five soldiers spread themselves out under the cover of night, their black uniforms blending into their surroundings. Selecting a nearby building, Ivan placed an objective marker there. Four acknowledgement lights flashed in his HUD as his squad began moving.

"Hold up," Zhang Yi's voice drifted through the street. "They might have a decoy to jam the pulse meter."

"What?" Heliang whispered, "I thought those things could only jam UAVs"

"If you modify it," Zhang Yi replied, "You can also jam pulse meters."

"Shit, what do we do?" Viktor asked.

"Leave it to me," Zhang Yi replied as he took out a grenade.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Ivan motioned, "we're not tossing that!"

"Didn't plan on tossing it," Zhang Yi said as he unscrewed the top of the grenade and emptied out the powder.

"Are you gonna throw that at me?" Heliang asked.

"Do I look like Kush to you?" Zhang Yi replied tersely as he shook out the last bit of powder. "Viktor, I need your IDS."

"What for?" Viktor asked as he took out his Infantry Detection System, a small, handheld computer that worked like a UAV but at a reduced range.

"Just give me the damned thing," Zhang Yi turned around.

"Alright," Viktor shrugged as he handed over the IDS.

Zhang Yi took out the radar system and inserted it into the device, which hummed on and lit up the surrounding area.

"Put the damned thing down!" Ivan hissed as he went prone to avoid possible detection.

"Hold on," Zhang Yi replied as he turned the IDS upside down. Taking out his combat knife, he began hollowing out the grenade.

"What are you doing?" Viktor asked.

"Making a half cone," Zhang Yi explained as he jammed the IDS into the grenade shell. "It'll boost the range as well as the signal strength from the IDS. If there's any decoys up there, we'll spot some kind of movement."

"You sure it'll work?" Tanya slid over.

"If it doesn't," Zhang Yi replied as he pushed the IDS deeper into the grenade, "I'll open-mouth kiss Heliang."

"Your words," Tanya whispered.

"Trust me," Zhang Yi smiled behind his sniper mask as he tossed the grenade into the nearby building.

"Alright, it's starting to scan," Viktor whispered.

"Nothing," Ivan noted, "looks clear."

"Wait," Tanya whispered, "I saw a red dot."

"You sure?" Viktor asked, "I didn't see anything."

"Heliang, scan," Zhang Yi ordered. "With the IDS helping, the Pulse Meter ought to be able to overcome the jamming."

"On it," Heliang replied as he raised the pulse meter.

Just then, a boom rang out and Heliang's hand, along with the pulse meter, exploded in a shower of blood and metal.

Zhang Yi reacted the fasted, pushing him to the ground and covering his mouth to prevent the nearby hostile troops from hearing the scream.

"Shit," Ivan whispered, "they're in the building."

"Dammit, come here and help me patch him up," Tanya hissed at Ivan as she threw down her medical hub and took out a syringe of anesthetic.

"What do I do?" Ivan asked.

"Grab his wrist, put it above his heart," Tanya ordered as she injected the anesthetic into Heliang's arm.

"I'll act as lookout," Viktor volunteered as he picked up Heliang's Shuko.

"We need to get him inside the building," Zhang Yi said, "We're easy picking for the sniper."

"We can't move him yet," Tanya said, "his hand needs to be stablized."

"It's either his hand, or his life," Zhang Yi asserted, "We're moving him."

"Hold on," Tanya hissed. Picking out a steel band from the hub, she bent it to make a temporary cast. Then she took out a roll of bandages and wrapped it around Heliang's hand. Molding the cast around the bandage, she then applied an antibiotic paste around it to keep out infection.

"Can we move now?" Ivan asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Tanya nodded as she and Zhang Yi picked Heliang up.

As they retreated into the building, murderous gunfire broke out from the building opposite them, tearing into windows. Viktor sprayed the Shuko back with limited effect. The gunfire ceased for a brief five seconds before resuming with vengeance. That window of five seconds was enough for the five soldiers to get themselves inside the building.

Once inside, Tanya took the temporary cast off and applied a unit of hemostatic gel on the bullet wound. After examining the extent of the injury, she began resetting the bones.

"Hold still," she warned, "if you move the wrong way you'll lose this hand."

"How about another round of anesthetics?" Heliang suggested.

"We need to conserve those," Tanya replied, "Just tough it out."

"Easy for you to say," Heliang looked down at his shattered hand.

"Hey!" Tanya exclaimed, "Eyes on me. Keep your eyes on me. Stop looking at it."

"Um guys," Zhang Yi turned around from the window. "The enemy Titan is coming closer, I think we're about to be in range of their undercarriage guns."

"Not a problem," Viktor dropped the Shuko and shouldered his Sudnik.

"Put that thing away!" Ivan hissed, "if you shoot it, they'll have a fix on our position."

"Sir," Viktor said as he selected his Sudnik to Guided Fire mode. "I think they know we're here, that's why I'm going to knock out those guns."

The Titan lumbered toward the building, its green shield was inconsistant with the EU's blue shield. That only meant one thing: this Titan belonged to the African Union Enforcer Corp. This Titan wasn't a standard assault Titan, it was configured differently. While it still had the four undercarriage cannons and two anti air cannons, this one also had two EMP cannons to neutralize both ground and air attacks.

Colonel Asim al-Rahhbi stared at his weapons console. Ground teams have just confirmed that there are Pan Asian forces in the building opposite them. His job was to make sure that building disappears. He was Sudanese, born during the Religious Wars and hardened by the brutalities he saw. When the Cold War started and the armies of Pan Asia began their march toward his home, his government had called on him to fight. He remembered the first time he sat at the controls of a Titan. He remembered the first time he pressed a simple button and watched as the ground beneath him turned into dust as if the fist of Allah itself had been brought down upon it. And now as he stared at the building coming into the sight of his cannons, he began praying that Allah would forgive the souls of the infidel trapped within the target building.

"Sir, we don't have time," Viktor urged.

"Dammit we're not firing," Ivan pressed his face against Viktor's. "We can't risk being detected."

Just then, Ivan felt something nudge against his helmet. Turning around, he looked into the barrel of a gun.

"Viktor," Zhang Yi said calmly as he kept the gun trained on Ivan's head, "fire at the Titan."

"Zhang Yi, what the hell are you doing?" Ivan asked, trembling.

"Keeping you from killing all of us," Zhang Yi replied. "Unlike last time, this gun is loaded. I checked."

"This is treason!" Ivan barked.

"Is it?" Zhang Yi asked. "Is protecting the lives of soldiers so that they can fight for their homelands considered treason? Viktor, engage the Titan!"

"Yessir," Viktor turned around and aimed the Sudnik at the Titan. The missile ejected from the launcher, guided by the computer on the launcher.

al-Rahhbi's finger hovered over the fire button. The building was coming closer and closer. Suddenly, a brilliant flash flared up from that building and his screen went black.

"Direct hit!" Viktor exulted, "it'll be a while before the engineers on that Titan could fix the cannon, and the other cannons can't reach us at the moment."

"Good shot," Heliang smiled despite his wound.

"Alright Ivan," Zhang Yi lowered the pistol, "where do we go now?"

"You tell me," Ivan replied coldly.

"Are you relinquishing your command?" Zhang Yi asked.

"With squadmates like you?" Ivan jabbed his finger in Zhang Yi's chest, "Do I have a choice?"

"Fine," Zhang Yi replied. "Heliang, can you still shoot?"

"I think so," Heliang replied as he raised his left hand.

"Good," Zhang Yi nodded. "Take Viktor's Malkov and he'll take your Shuko. We're going out the back door. Let's move."

The squad grunted their acknowledgement and proceeded downstairs. Five minutes later, they were positioned at the foot of the building, ready for further orders.

"Alright, the IDS is still transmitting, we're going there," Zhang Yi whispered, "Still got any stun grenades?"

"Two more," Viktor checked his inventory, "Should be enough."

"Right," Zhang Yi muttered, "on my mark."

Nearby, a dog wandered onto the ice cold street, barking as gunfires rang out in the distant parts of the city. The wind blew dusts in graceful swirls. The massive Titan in the air was turning, trying to get the entire squad back in its gunsights. The cold wintry air wrapped itself around the buildings, the trees, and the streets as a cloud parted and revealed the moon shining on the ancient city.

"Go, go, go!" Zhang Yi hissed as the Titan turned just enough to block the moon's bright light. Alpha squad dashed through the street to the opposite building. Unlike the last time, no gunfire greeted them. Instead, they were met with silence.

"Alright," Zhang Yi said as he leaned against the wall, "let's go in, slowly. Follow my lead."

Switching on his night vision, Zhang Yi slowly crept toward the door and opened it. The hinges were old and they creaked as the door opened. The soldiers of Alpha squad dropped to their knees as the sound permeated through the streets. The dog stopped barking and turned its head toward the sound of the noise.

"Smoke screen!" Zhang Yi turned toward Ivan, who tossed the smoke grenade into the door.

The cloud of smoke was just enough to cause the African soldiers within the building to make one fatal mistake: yell.

"Alright, they're in there," Zhang Yi confirmed as he pulled the pin on his grenade and held it. Two seconds later, he tossed it inside and smiled with satisfaction when he heard the screams of those who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast.

"Storm it!" Zhang Yi announced as he waved the squad in.

Ivan was the first one to charge in, his Voss barking as it spat out the bullets at the dioriented Africna soldiers. There was a hole in the ceiling and a gun barrel poked through it.

The Shuko in Viktor's hand roared, knocking the soldier upstairs backwards.

Tanya's Krylov fired in bursts, bringing down a burly European captain directing the tiny fireteam.

In three minutes, the building had been cleared.

"Alright, we're still fairly far from the silo," Zhang Yi said, "but the firefights are getting closer. It means we're approaching the main battlegroup."

"How's that Titan?" Ivan asked.

"Shouldn't be a problem," Zhang Yi replied as he brought up his map. "Alright, there's some good cover all the way to the silo, let's take the next three streets."

"Where's the main battle group?" Heliang asked.

"About two klicks from the silo when we landed," Zhang Yi replied. "From what I'm guessing, the silo's probably already under our control, but there should be some forces there as guard."

"Alright," Ivan declared, "let's move then."

The five soldiers got up and shouldered their weapons. Creeping through the streets, they weaved through the myriad of buildings, bringing them closer and closer to the silo. Taking position at the building roughly half a klick away from the silo, Zhang Yi raised his hands and kept the team at a standstill.

"Enemy sniper, dead ahead," he whispered, "Spread out and stay low."

Peering through the scope of his Park 52, Zhang Yi turned on the infra-red function. Immediately the world became bathed in a false color spectrum, and the target became a mass of red among a dark blue background.

"Viktor," Zhang Yi whispered as he kept his eye trained on his scope, "toss a stun grenade."

"Why?" Viktor asked, not willing to part with his last grenade.

"It'll make a sound while I shoot," Zhang Yi replied.

"Wouldn't that draw the attention of whatever else is here?" Ivan asked.

"Maybe, but we're close enough to the building to make a run for it," Zhang Yi adjusted his scope.

"Sounds like a bad idea," Viktor breathed.

"Fine then," Zhang Yi grumbled, "we'll wait for an explosion."

Just then, a rumbling sound permeated through the streets.

"What's that?" Heliang asked.

"Oh shit," Zhang Yi turned, "get inside the building!"

"What is it?!" Ivan asked.

"Tanks, four of them!" Zhang Yi replied.

"Four?" Ivan asked.

"Four," Zhang Yi confrimed, "you can usually tell by the irregularity of the sound their treads make. Get inside the building, I'll handle the sniper."

The four squadmates hurried toward the building to take shelter. Zhang Yi remained behind, his body swallowed by the night. The enemy sniper was still looking around, not paying attention to his surroundings. Zhang Yi placed the crosshair between two particularly bright red dots: the eyes. The rumbling of the tanks grew louder, but the soldier didn't seem to hear them, his eye was focused on his target. The rumbling grew loud enough so that the target turned to see the commotion. That gave Zhang Yi his chance.

A shot rang out, unheard because of the rumbling.

A body fell, unnoticed in the night.

A shadow moved through the streets into the building, unnoticed by the patroling tanks.

"Alright, those tanks are gone," Zhang Yi's voice drifted through the shadows.

"Jesus!" Heliang jumped, "don't do that!"

"If you paid more attention, you would've noticed me," Zhang Yi chuckled as he led the squad outside. The stillness of the streets greeted them while the four Tiger tanks plowed away from them.

The silo was unguarded, upon inspection by Viktor, it was declared that the silo was under PAC control. Satisfied with the findings, Ivan turned on his radio

"Alpha to main battlegroup," Ivan said, "We are at presumably silo four near the center of the city. We have lost contact with the main battlegroup and are requesting a rendevouz point."

"Copy that alpha," a voice crackled over the radio, "this is main battlegroup, we'll be rendevouzing at the main statue. Be advised, we have reports of African Union Enforcer Corp fireteams hidden within buildings. Recommend holding silo and awaiting transport."

"Understood," Ivan replied, "We have no sentry gun, and our supplier is injured, we may not be able to hold our ground here. How fast can you get us our transport?"

"We can spare one Yastreb, assuming anti-air abilities have been completely neutralized," the voice said, "ETA four to six minutes."

"Roger that, will wait for transport, alpha out."

"Well," Zhang Yi said, "looks like we're in for one wild night."

"No kidding," Heliang grumbled as he watched a missile fly out from the silo and arc gracefully toward the distant enemy Titan.


	10. Luck

"Okay, it's definitely been more than five minutes," Heliang grumbled. "Where the hell is that Yastreb?"

"It's coming down, or at least it should," Ivan reassured.

"Well can you hurry it up?" Heliang complained, "I can't feel my hand."

"That's because it was shot," Zhang Yi said as he opened a pack of food.

"Thanks, that really cheered me up." Heliang said.

"No problem," Zhang Yi retorted through a mouthful of food.

"Alpha squad be advised," the radio crackled on. "We are detecting heavy enemy movements toward your position. Recommend you take up defensive positions around the silo."

"Where's the Yastreb you promised?" Ivan yelled into the radio.

"Uh," the radio replied. "We cannot spare any Yastreb at the current moment. We're picking up Mitchell AA signals all over the city. Air support is limited as well. You're going to have to make do with what you got. Sorry."

"Any ground forces that can help us?" Ivan asked.

"Negative, all of our forces are engaged, we can't spare anyone to pick you up."

"Are you serious?" Ivan yelled. "We're stuck here without any goddamn support?"

"That's affirmative, alpha, sorry about that. Main battle group out."

"Goddamit," Ivan cursed, "how much supply do we have?"

"Not much," Heliang checked his supply crate. "A few more clips, and one more grenade. We need reinforcement."

"Call in a UAV," Zhang Yi suggested. "Then ask the commander for orbital strikes."

"I don't think he's too keen about that idea." Ivan replied.

"We should lock down the silo first." Viktor suggested.

"How?" Tanya asked.

"Simple," Viktor replied as he walked up to the control panel. "We'll weld all the connector ports so the enemy can't access it."

"Get on it," Zhang Yi ordered. "I'll cover you."

"Are you taking over the squad again?" Ivan asked angrily.

"More or less," Zhang Yi replied as he stared through the scope.

Viktor walked up to the silo and loosened the panel. Taking out the HOFF, he began welding the connector ports.

The Park rang.

"Enemy sighted," Zhang Yi breathed as an empty shell-casing fell from the rifle. "Two of them. I also see some serious heat signatures. Maybe walkers."

"Command this is alpha," Ivan spoke into the radio. "We need a UAV at our position."

"Alpha squad, where the hell are you guys?" The radio hissed back.

"Can't you locate us on the computer?" Ivan asked.

"No, you guys must be off the grid, we can't find you. We're going to have to tap into the other Titans' maps to find you."

"Make it fast, we might have walkers coming." Ivan yelled.

"Can you give us specifics on your position, so we can get help to you faster?" The radio asked.

"Uh." Ivan looked around. "We're near a silo, there's several buildings around us, most of them are two storied."

"That describes at least half the city. Be more specific."

"The street that we're on is a T shaped intersection. I can see a tower to the west of us." Ivan said.

"Tower to your west, copy." The radio hissed. "Goddamn Alpha, you guys are way off course. You're at least four klicks away from the main battle group."

"We kind of didn't have any choice." Ivan replied. "Wait, at least four? What's at most?"

"At most you'd be nine klicks away and two klicks behind enemy lines." The radio replied.

"What's the nearest Titan in the area?" Ivan asked.

"The Smolensk," the radio replied. "You can try contacting them for help. As for exact location, there's not much we could do. Try heading for that tower and putting a beacon on it. Command out."

"Oh we're boned." Zhang Yi sighed. "They got tanks, APC, and at least two walkers."

"Do they take prisoners?" Heliang wondered out loud.

"Yes, but not you." Zhang Yi fired another shot.

"Why not?" Heliang asked as he fired a burst from the Malkov.

"Because you eat too much, it's easier to shoot you." Viktor laughed as he rested the Shuko on the silo and aimed it at the coming African troops.

"Enemy tanks sighted." Zhang Yi warned. "Take cover!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth, a tank round whistled past the squad, sending a shower of dirt flying to the sky.

"Spread out!" Ivan yelled as he fired a burst.

"Walker in sight!" Tanya dove to the ground.

"Viktor, fire on the walker!" Ivan barked.

"On it, Heliang, man the Shuko." Viktor shouldered the Sudnik.

An eerie green glow lit up the night.

"Damn it, it's flaring its defense." Viktor yelled.

The walker let out a murderous stream of bullets across the landscape, shredding the street, the houses, and whatever else stood between them.

"Take cover behind the silo, and provide some covering fire." Zhang Yi yelled.

"Why, what the hell are you going to do?" Ivan yelled.

"I'm going to jack a tank." Zhang Yi replied as he took out his IT-33.

"Tank, what tank?" Heliang asked.

"Just wait." Zhang Yi replied as he disappeared.

"Oh goddamit." Heliang sighed as he fired another burst at a coming soldier.

"Alpha squad, this is command," The radio crackled. "What's your status?"

"This is alpha, we're taking heavy fire down here, we need help. We haven't gotten in contact with _Smolensk_, and we're running out of time!" Ivan yelled.

"Understood, can you give us a sit-rep?"

"We are faced with substantial fire from the enemy. They have walkers, APCs, and tanks." Ivan replied.

"Roger that, we're linking up with _Smolensk_ to find you guys."

"Make it fast!" Ivan urged as he fired at an African soldier that got too close.

"Hey Heliang," Tanya yelled. "I'm out, toss me a clip."

"What's your weapon?" Heliang yelled.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Tanya screamed. "You don't know what my goddamn gun is?"

"Look, it's a very confusing job at times. I mean, I can't be held responsible for having all kinds of ammo in my box." Heliang replied as he ducked under the silo.

"You should at least have ONE clip." Tanya yelled. "You DO have ammo right?"

"More or less," Heliang crawled to the box. "What do you need, Voss?"

"You have got to be kidding." Tanya snarled. "I USE A KRYLOV!"

"Ooh, fresh out." Heliang said. "Sorry."

"Give me the Malkov then!" Tanya yelled.

"Here!" Heliang slid the submachine gun over.

Tanya grabbed the gun, aimed at the nearest African troop, and fired.

Nothing happened.

"It's empty!" She yelled. "You at least have clips for that right?"

"Uh, no." Heliang rummaged through the box.

"What the hell!" Tanya yelled. "What DO you have in that box?"

"Three porn magazines, empty clips, and a half eaten sandwich." Viktor slid over. "Here's your clip. It's my last one."

"What?!" Heliang yelled indignantly. "I don't have porn in there!"

"The fact that you can have an argument about that while you're being shot at suggests otherwise." Viktor raised the Sudnik and fired a round toward the walker. The walker lowered itself on its legs, receiving the missile head-on with minmal damage.

"You know what," Heliang said. "Screw you guys."

Suddenly, one of the tanks blew up.

"What the hell?" Viktor asked. "There's no way that could've happened on its own."

"Hey guys," Zhang Yi's voice sounded on the radio. "Saw you guys could use some help."

"Where the hell are you?" Ivan asked.

"Check the enemy tank. I already took out the other tank and a walker." Zhang Yi replied.

"Yeah, I saw." Viktor chuckled. "That was damn good shooting."

"There's not much more. They haven't caught on yet." Zhang Yi laughed. "And now they're missing one APC. That's their armor support. Mop up the rest of them."

"S udavostvyem," Heliang replied as he trained his Shuko on the African soldiers.

Five minutes later, the attacking force had been destroyed.

"So you actually jacked this tank?" Heliang asked as Zhang Yi jumped down.

"Pretty much," he smiled. "Handles just like my old one. All we need to do is change the NetBAT ID on it when we get close to Coalition Forces and we should be fine."

"Command to alpha, we've located you." The radio cracked on.

"Roger that command, where the hell are we?" Ivan asked.

"You're about four klicks away from the statue in the city center. We're also reading an enemy tank in your vicinity."

"That's okay command," Ivan laughed. "We stole an enemy tank."

"Outstanding, we're providing you with the coordinates of the main battle group. You should be able to link up with them soon now that you have a tank."

"Roger that command," Ivan replied.

"Hey, can you ask them for a supply crate?" Heliang said.

"Command," Ivan said. "Requesting supply drop at our position."

"Negative, _Orlov_ is not in position to drop requested supplies. We'll relay the request to _Smolensk_ but you will have to wait."

"Understood, we know what we're getting ourselves into." Ivan replied.

"Alright, relaying request to _Smolensk_."

"Squad, hold this position." Ivan ordered. "We'll leave when the supply crate comes down."


End file.
